Well its been a week now since I put this temperament on one of the university pianos and posted a note encouraging students and teachers alike to use and experiment with it. I thought I might er... communicate a few responses I have recieved so far. About 40 % of the students I have approached about this so far didnt understand that I had done anything different at all. Also, they didnt hear any difference. Supprised ??? probably not so suprising really. About 10% didnt really like what they heard. They got immediatly hung up on the tonal combinations that didnt work and closed off from experimenting further. The rest were really interested in the whole idea. I dont think there has been so much Bach being played here for several years. Even most of those who didnt really notice any real difference were eager for explanations and I expect many of those will get into this experiment in the comming weeks. Today one of the head honchoe piano instructors sat down with me after I had just cleaned up the tuning. This time I let the RCT do the temperament and an octave on either side, while I did the rest of the octave by ear.I was suprised at how easy it was to find the right spot for the notes in the highest octave.. but thats another story. This instructor sat down and fooled a bit, then proceeded to play a few Baroque pieces.... stopping here and there to comment on what he was hearing. He was simply put enthralled. It was hard to get him off the piano actually, when a couple students came in to take there practice hour. When he asked about the classic problem of having to retune for different types of music I simply said that thats what a piano tuner is really for. That is our job and it is up to the pianist to know enough about what we can do to fully utilize our capabilities. Gotta say folks... my first week of HT's has been a good one. The music that functions best on this temperament sounds absolutely delightful... no... way more then that... way more. And I gotta ask myself. Why should we deny ourselves this just because its a "pain in the arse" to have to retune the instrument... isnt that our job ???? -- Richard Brekne RPT, N.P.T.F. Bergen, Norway
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